Seroquel? Anyone familiar with this one?

R saw the psychiatrist y'day. She's been talking to her supervisor and they've been studying the results of all the questionairres I've completed the last few visits.

Final determination - Asperger's.

She said the ADHD, anxiety, tics, etc...that never responded to individual treatment alone can all be explained with Asperger's - especially since he has a lot of the other "symptoms".

I kind of suspected some sort of Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) and Asperger's has been mentioned before but I didn't expect to feel so absolutely shell-shocked when she told me yesterday. I called my mom on the way home and it was all I could do to fight back the stinging hot tears.

She's recommended a social skills program for him. I put in a call to the Occupational Therapist (OT) this morning and am waiting for a call back. She didn't really mention anything else but is there other things we should explore?

My son takes seroquel - a very low 20 mg dose which was rx'd to "lengthen the fuse"!

It is an antipyscotic mainly used to treat the manic stages of BiPolar (BP) and schizophrenia. Side effects for my son are increased appetite and drowsiness (which is why he takes his dose at night). It has been an effective medication for it's rx'd intention in my son.

My oldest took seroquel at doeses from 25 mg to 400 mgs up and down, back and forth for years. SHe gained 100 pounds........and her blood pressure got very high, stroke level on it. Removal of the medication did not reverse either side effect.

I took seroquel for sleep and as a mood stabilizer. It worked well for me. But I did have a problem with the weight gain.

As for the diagnosis, it seems like no matter how prepared we think we are to hear it, or even if we've pushed to to get the diagnosis, it still is like a punch in the stomach when we actually hear it.

If difficult child doesn't have an IEP in school, make sure you get one ASAP.

It is an antipsychotic. My son takes Zyprexa and at one time took Risperdal, which are also antipsychotics. Zyprexa is worse for weight gain, although they can all cause it. The Zyprexa is working well for him to control his racing and opposing thoughts. He takes it at night and it helps him sleep well. When we were wondering about Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD), I was told that antipsychotics help some kids with high functioning autism to be more comfortable with communication. It also helped my son to communicate and have better eye contact with others, although he went to TEACCH for an evaluation and they said that his problem was not related to the autistic spectrum. They questioned a social anxiety perhaps.

I know it is difficult to hear a diagnoses, and you might think perhaps of getting another evaluation or second opinion if the psychiatrist is not familiar with these kind of diagnoses. Our psychiatrist, therapist and state hospital psychiatrist all thought he might have a high functioning autism, but when they sent him to the people here who are experts in autism, they disagreed.

Another thing is that once you do know what is really wrong, you also know what supports to include in an IEP and how to better help him.
Those are good things.

Oh- I just wanted to mention...not that it is true in your case at all, but individual treatments never helped my son either and that was one reason that they did think it was high functioning autism. What helped in the end for us was the mood stabilizer and the antipsychotic. It is so hard to diagnose young kids sometimes!

I'm going to third that my son's high functioning autism was hard to diagnose, but that he didn't really respond the way he was supposed to on medications. In his case, however, he had tons of testing before getting his Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)-not otherwise specified diagnosis (the reason it wasn't Aspergers is that he did have a speech delay, however, he is very bright and really has a nice temperament now that he's in the correct interventions and now that everyone understands him). In his long list of medications that he took (that he didn't need), he took Seroquel almost longer than any of them. In Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), some kids rage when frustrated and it is common for them to be given antipsycotics for anger issues. Risperdal is the one that I've heard of the most, but Seroquel is actually easier to tolerate for some kids. My son got very sleepy on it, so you may want to give it to him at night. Be sure your son has his IEP adjusted to fit the diagnosis, and have supports in place. Social skills help is a big deal for kids with Aspergers. They are so naive and so socially clueless. My son trusts people way too much and I don't know how to teach him to be wary. Experience or getting burned by people doesn't work for him. He still thinks they're "my friends." (Yeah, when kids coerced you into giving them your stuff and money, they're your friends). I think my son's outward social skills have improved 90%, even if he still has challenges figuring out other people. Hugs Aspies are actuall the NEATEST kids I've ever met. I love them.